10 SOP Templates Every Operations Team Needs in 2026

Ready-to-use SOP templates for onboarding, IT support, customer service, inventory, and more.

Every operations team has processes that run on autopilot in someone's head. The problem is when that someone calls in sick, goes on vacation, or leaves the company.

These 10 SOP templates cover the most common processes every team needs documented. You can use them as-is, customize them for your workflow, or skip the template entirely and generate a custom SOP from a screen recording using ProcessReel.

1. Employee Onboarding SOP

Purpose: Get new hires productive in their first week instead of their first month.

Key Steps:

1. Send welcome email with login credentials (Day -3)
2. Set up workstation, accounts, and access permissions (Day -1)
3. First day: office tour, team introductions, HR paperwork
4. System training: walk through core tools with screen recordings
5. Shadow sessions with team members (Days 2-3)
6. First solo task with check-in (Day 4)
7. End of week review and feedback

Tip: Record each system walkthrough as a screen recording. Upload to ProcessReel and you have permanent training docs that new hires can reference anytime.

2. Customer Refund Process

Purpose: Handle refunds consistently and keep customers happy even when things go wrong.

Key Steps:

1. Receive refund request and verify order details
2. Check refund eligibility against policy
3. If eligible: process refund in payment system
4. Send confirmation email with expected timeline
5. If ineligible: send explanation with alternative options
6. Log in CRM for tracking

3. IT Support Ticket Handling

Purpose: Resolve support tickets efficiently with consistent quality.

Key Steps:

1. Receive and categorize ticket (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
2. Assign to appropriate team member based on category
3. Acknowledge receipt within SLA timeframe
4. Diagnose issue using troubleshooting checklist
5. Resolve or escalate with detailed notes
6. Confirm resolution with requester
7. Close ticket and update knowledge base if new issue

4. Inventory Receiving

Purpose: Ensure accurate inventory counts and catch discrepancies immediately.

Key Steps:

1. Verify shipment against purchase order
2. Inspect items for damage
3. Count and record quantities
4. Flag discrepancies and photograph damage
5. Update inventory system
6. Move items to designated storage locations
7. File receiving documents

5. Monthly Reporting

Purpose: Produce consistent, accurate reports every month without scrambling.

Key Steps:

1. Pull data from source systems (Day 1-2 of month)
2. Validate data against previous month
3. Generate report using template
4. Review for anomalies or errors
5. Add commentary on significant changes
6. Distribute to stakeholders by deadline

6. Password Reset Procedure

Purpose: Securely reset passwords while preventing social engineering attacks.

Key Steps:

1. Verify identity (security questions or manager confirmation)
2. Generate temporary password
3. Send via secure channel (not email)
4. Require password change on first login
5. Log the reset for audit trail

7. Vendor Payment Processing

Purpose: Pay vendors on time while maintaining proper approval controls.

Key Steps:

1. Receive invoice and match to purchase order
2. Verify goods/services were delivered
3. Code to correct GL account
4. Submit for approval based on amount thresholds
5. Process payment in accounting system
6. Send remittance advice to vendor

8. Software Deployment

Purpose: Deploy code to production safely with rollback capability.

Key Steps:

1. Verify all tests pass in staging
2. Create deployment checklist
3. Notify team of deployment window
4. Take database backup
5. Deploy to production
6. Run smoke tests
7. Monitor for 30 minutes
8. If issues: execute rollback plan

9. Customer Escalation Handling

Purpose: Resolve escalated issues quickly while keeping customers informed.

Key Steps:

1. Receive escalation and review full ticket history
2. Acknowledge to customer within 1 hour
3. Assign senior team member
4. Develop resolution plan
5. Communicate plan to customer with timeline
6. Execute resolution
7. Follow up within 24 hours of resolution
8. Document lessons learned

10. End of Day Closing Procedure

Purpose: Ensure all daily tasks are completed and nothing falls through the cracks.

Key Steps:

1. Review open tasks and tickets
2. Update status on in-progress items
3. Reconcile daily transactions
4. Send end of day summary to manager
5. Set up priorities for tomorrow

Skip the Template: Generate Custom SOPs Automatically

These templates are a starting point, but every team's processes are different. Instead of customizing a generic template, you can generate a custom SOP from your actual workflow:

1. Record your screen while performing the process
2. Narrate what you are doing and why
3. Upload to ProcessReel
4. Get a complete SOP with your specific tools, your specific steps, and your specific tips

The result is documentation that matches exactly how YOUR team does things, not a generic template.

FAQ

How often should SOPs be updated?

Review SOPs quarterly or whenever the underlying process changes. With ProcessReel, updating is easy: just re-record the process and generate a new version.

Who should write SOPs?

The person who actually does the process, not a manager writing from memory. Screen recording makes this easy because the expert just does their normal work while narrating.

How do I get my team to actually follow SOPs?

Make them easy to find, easy to read, and easy to update. SOPs that are buried in a shared drive never get used. Share links, embed in your wiki, and keep them short.

Generate custom SOPs from screen recordings in minutes. Try ProcessReel free